Ultimatum Alarms West

LONDON — The Russian military's "get-out-or-die" ultimatum to the people of Grozny, the Chechen capital, galvanized Western governments on Tuesday to begin considering limited curbs on aid to Moscow.

Russian warplanes dropped thousands of leaflets over Grozny in recent days, urging residents to use any means possible to escape the city before Dec. 11.

The demand spurred alarms in Western capitals that thousands of Chechnya's civilians could be killed or injured.

President Clinton said he was concerned and there were calls in some Western European capitals to cut off Western credits in protest.

The 15-nation European Union said in Brussels that it was considering freezing research and technical assistance accords due to be signed with Russia -- a mostly symbolic gesture.

But it added to pressure on Moscow after the International Monetary Fund affirmed Monday that it would continue to withhold a second $640 million slice of a $4.5 billion loan agreed with Russia in July.

A failure to get more IMF funding now, some analysts said, could soon make a real difference to Moscow's ability to finance the war.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, speaking to Parliament in London, said international assistance to Russia would be reviewed. "We cannot continue to assist Russia if Russia does not respect basic humanitarian norms," he said.

The Russian military's ultimatum expires Saturday as leaders of the 15-nation European Union will be winding up a two-day summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland.

The EU leaders will admonish the Russians that an indiscriminate military campaign, which has taken hundreds of lives, is unacceptable and will harm Russia's standing in the world.

Whether they go beyond that remains to be seen. But defiant statements toward the West coming out of Russia could harden attitudes among EU leaders.

Before the meeting, governments in Britain, France, Germany and Italy issued strong statements of disapproval of Russian policy Tuesday, as did NATO Secretary-General George Robertson after a meeting with Clinton in Washington.

The only major nation that has supported the Russians is China.

Cook took the unusual step of summoning Russian Ambassador Yuri Fokin to tell him of the "alarm and dismay" of Britain and its European partners to events in Chechnya.

Amid an avalanche of Western criticism, Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailoon softened Moscow's stance, saying there was no deadline for the civilians to leave.

"We have not set any time period," Rushailo said during a tour of Chechnya.. "We think that people who are capable of leaving the war zone should do it as soon as possible so not to risk their lives and those of their relatives."

None of this means that the Russians plan to cease their punishing artillery and bombing attacks on Grozny. Nor does it mean that Russia has given up its attempt to persuade the thousands of civilians still in Grozny to leave.

The Russian military is in the process of establishing a safe corridor for refugees from Grozny leading north to the town of Pervomaiskoye, where a checkpoint has been established.

There the refugees will be processed and sent to two tent cities at Znamenskoye in northern Chechnya, which the military is rushing to complete.

Information from The New York Times was used to supplement this report.